So, who else is hoping to catch SWW?
We will be there May 22 - 26 for SWW. My son (23) has wanted to go for SWW forever so since we are taking our first
disney cruise from May 17 - 22 I surprised him and made plans to stay for the weekend.
I know he will flip out and I have to say I am just as excited to see everything. Is it really a madhouse or can it be somewhat reasonable? With all the rumors going around about supposed changes to DHS I hope they don't change anything for SWW.
We attended SWW this past May and yes. It was a madhouse! Granted we were there the first Friday and apparently that's very crowded because collectors want the limited edition merchandise.
The oldest three kids attended the parade and other SWW activities. They were in place an hour before the big parade started and still couldn't see much. Hubby and I toured the park with our youngest (she has special needs and no interest in Star Wars) and lines were horrendous. 120 minutes plus for Toy Story Mania for example.
We will be there the same week in May next year and the kids do NOT want to do the SWW activities again. We're going to pick a different park to visit that Friday!! And that's saying a lot because my oldest son LOVES Star Wars! It was just too crowded.
We were at WDW May 22-29 this year. I mistakenly scheduled our DHS day during SWW and regret it still. We were there for rope drop and rode ToT and RnRC first thing. After that, the park was a madhouse. The street crowds weren't bad but the lines for all of the attractions were horrendous and dining was a disaster. We left the park after our awful ADR at Play n Dine on Hollywood n Vine. We arrived to the ADR 30 min early and were seated an hour after our reservation time. The kids were starving after waiting 1:30 for lunch and cranky. The adults were angry because we thought we planned well and it was turning into a fiasco. We left DHS by 1:30. It was the absolute worst day of the trip. The only thing that came a close 2nd was walking into the MK for the 24 hour all nighter on May 24th just before the fireworks started. That was just scary. I've never seen main st like that and hope to never experience it again.
Back to the point. If you are going to SWW with children then be prepared! Expect long wait times for everything! Have a back up plan if you guys decide to bail on the original plan. If you're prepared and don't mind hour long waits then you'll have fun. Good luck!
As for as SWW goes. This year was our first time attending SWW. Were were there for three of the 5 weekends. We were warned by a friend who was a cast member, that we need to plan for crowds. The first weekend is always busy, because like hsmamainva said the collectors want the limited edition stuff.
But when we went the two weekends after, it was a little better. We got seated 90 min before the parade to get good views. btw if you ever decide to go to the 501 parade and want to get good seats, sit on the left side when your walking into the park. Reason, you don't get hit up the hot sun. btw here is a pic of the where we sat for the parade.
http://instagram.com/p/acU-4kFHtQ/
Also we spent over half the time with getting in line for Star Wars meet and greet and utilized the remaining of the time at shows to cool off.
I suppose you have to be patient when there are special events like this. I will still recommend SWW to people. If you have any questions please let me know. I would love to answer and help you.
If you interested in seeing more pics then follow me on Instagram, my ID is "Aatif911" you might have to scroll down to the month of May and June.